A Christian theology with ponderings on: God, sin, grace, faith, man, and the state of the church and its worship today.
The aim of this blog is to both challenge the Church and build up the Church for the glory of God.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Greatest Hindrance to Scriptural Interpretation

The greatest hindrance to scriptural interpretation is human cleverness. The bible says many things which are difficult to understand, but the vast majority of its teaching is very simple and plain.

Often a theologian or preacher is most in danger of theological error when they move into the Greek to explain what a text means and the meaning is not evident in the translation. It is often simply that the theologian or preacher does not like what the text means.

If you ever see a theologian or preacher seem to shift the meaning of the text with interpretation of Greek watch closely what they say on the topic in the future. Usually you have found a hole in their theology and in each subsequent text on the same topic the issue will be skirted or similarly handled.

The teaching of scripture is almost never so complicated that it requires a five to ten minute lesson on the meaning of Greek words to understand a text. Learning is at many times more neutral than is expected in the modern world. It can be used for good or evil.

Certainly learning is overall something which promotes good, but it does not change the human condition. The heart is deceitful above all things and a falling back into advanced learning to avoid the plain teaching of scripture is very common in the current day.

The bible is really a very plain book. It repeats the important messages it has repeatedly and in many forms. The bible is very insistent on being understood on critical points. That is why it repeats the same truths over and over in different styles and terminologies.